How a Meta-Breaking Bad Boy Came Out of Nowhere and Nearly Conquered the World

Sponsored By GEICO - This episode of Offbeat is presented by GEICO. Advancing to the Worlds finals and surprising everyone is not easy, but you know what is? Switching to GEICO - 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance: www.GEICO.com/g...
In esports it can sometimes feel as if the games we play are scripted.
That players are shackled by monolithic metas and unspoken rules that force them to fall into line, giving up self expression in exchange for likelier silverware.
And while most players bow their heads to these conventions and accept them as blueprints to success, over the years we’ve been fortunate to see mavericks emerge who have rejected these formulas in favor of coming up with their own.
Trailblazers who challenge their contemporaries to rethink everything they thought they knew about their games.
And in League of Legends, you’ll have a hard time finding a more off-the-wall experimenter than Lê "SofM" Quang Duy.
Written by: Josh Bury (@ThrownGauntlet)
Hosted by: Dimitri Pascaluta (@DPascaluta)
Edited by: Matt Massey
Produced by: Miles Hackett (@miles_hackett)
Thumbnail by: Fermin Mulett
Production assistance by: Kai Medalla (@dinonotdeenoh)
Footage Credits:
pastebin.com/1...
Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).
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[@TeamLiquidCS]

Yeah this guy was pretty good.

[@babablacksphee]

Wow never expected this but awesome

[@culturekingsboy6555]

Yea cause you guys couldn’t even make it to groups....EVER lol

[@tommonfg0810]

Sign him next year please Steve :D

[@Griffin그리핀]

@Rohan Agrawal somebody didn't pay attention to the roster changes

[@erene3152]

@Rohan Agrawal why would they keep broxah :D

[@mr.singularity6592]

Never fight the Vietnamese in the jungle it's their home Territory

[@Jee_oon]

honestly, if a dota caster casted the finals, lets say ODP, he would say it actually.

[@culturekingsboy6555]

American lcs players learnt it the hard way. It’s rumoured that this is how NB3 got hooked onto meth.

[@emilt.m.6418]

especially when gigabyte marines funnelled at worlds a season before the funnel meta

[@Pygmay]

The most american comment here

[@hungrysloth9189]

I love the Vietnam War reference

[@SylvieTheCuteSylveon]

As a Vietnamese waking up at 3 in the morning seeing this, I feel so happy and having some tears in my eyes

[@Hrvatski96]

Thats exactly how I feel about perkz 😂

[@olex8554]

+ rếpct

[@pnthien21]

Lol. I woke up at 3 too and also saw this vid as a ytb recommendation

[@sslime4649]

As not a Vietnamese, seeing this still make me proud for this dude.

[@anselgatus5290]

Imagine having the balls to play TANK Rengar. ON THE WORLD FINALS

[@74URS74]

Every Rengar main hated it

[@halfiem2510]

I could never-

[@jonistmp8484]

This is how he flex from top to jungler

[@themanyouknow4642]

I know the comment is 1 year old but I gotta add, he picked Shen on semi final. And you know what, he had to read skill description before upgrading. It was literally his first time playing Shen jungle.

[@petermarry7073]

5:13 best nautilus's Q i've ever seen.

[@ucnguyenviet5514]

LMAO he was definitely messing around

[@merouln700]

Between Levi in 2017 and SofM in 2020, vietnamese junglers don't play by the rules or meta, and we love them for it.

[@kanimals1532]

Btw Levi 2020 > Sofm 2020 lmao

[@kiennguyen4997]

@@kanimals1532 Levi 2020 couldn’t make it to Worlds. Wtf are you talking about?

[@ranelbelanoyt7173]

@@kiennguyen4997 i am not defending his take but Levi could have attended the worlds if the Vietnam restrictions allowed them that time.

[@kiennguyen4997]

@@ranelbelanoyt7173 No, Levi's team lost to Team Flash in the VCS final.

[@microwave9668]

@@kiennguyen4997 vẫn có vé vòng play in

[@underofficerbrandonjoseph6512]

He's a Vietnamese in the jungle. He brought the Tet Offensive to summoners rift.

[@3xe869]

His Lee Sin against G2 and that Tank Rengar is what makes him fucking crazy

[@VigilTheProtogen]

Evelynn: This is a carry jungle meta SofM's Tank Rengar: Evelynn: Adios amigos, it's been a good run

[@faytis101010]

Nobody has figured out how to Counter it if it is INDEED PLAYED like SoFM.... Dude is Special. In the Brain. In a good way.

[@Josh145b]

Tank Rengar and tank Nidalee was just troll. His off meta picks in that series didn’t almost win worlds, it destroyed his chances of winning worlds. His early kills didn’t mean shit when he was building tank.

[@mrdense4607]

@@Josh145b and yet, it won him a game, so who's to say it didn't work?

[@Josh145b]

@@mrdense4607 it didn’t win him a game. He was the only member of his team who got outperformed by his enemy counterpart that game. Watch the replay he was useless after 10 minutes because he built tank. There is a difference between winning a game and winning a game because you did ____. He happened to win a game as tank rengar because his teammates carried him. Fiora went 10/1. I’ve won a game playing AD Yuumi support. Would you say me playing AD Yuumi support won time that game?

[@aj8671]

Theres more vietnamese in World Finals than NA ever have....That saying a lot about how good is NA LOL

[@wwigo]

ok?

[@TheSmartCinema]

now let's count the amount of NA players who went to Play-offs, and then the same with Vietnamese players. your comparison is so stupid and baseless lmao

[@aj8671]

@@TheSmartCinema all i can say is that none of them had make it since 2019....im not stupid....ik speaking facts....its funny that NA was call mahor region but havent achieve anything meaningful....

[@aj8671]

@@TheSmartCinema Also...At least VCS have been Making tons of upset and people dont expect much from minor....what has NA done...Going 0-6 In literally group the people said they could finish first....

[@bbydykdyl7779]

@@aj8671 VCS also lost to NA over and over and over every time they met. I don't get why people have to try and shit on other regions, especially when your region is even worse. NA has made worlds semis, 2x MSI finals, etc. while minor regions like VCS haven't even made it to playoffs. They're the worst major region, but they're still WAY better than all the minor regions + way bigger (in terms of investment) so they're called a major region. Those are the facts

[@beeboonyakorn]

If i remembered correctly, during his time with FL in 2015, he picked lee sin with ignite smite in pro play(GPL) and built poacher knife with juggernaut enchantment What an insane guy.

[@leehongpi]

Yes, u r right. That's him, destroyed GPL in his style

[@vnXun]

Love how everybody call him S-O-F-M (spell out his name) except for Vietnamese ourselves, we just call him Sọp (like the caster at 4:42)

[@buunguyentominh215]

Yeah

[@doomduck3298]

Players and teams tell the casters what to call them. I’m guessing that when he moved to China he/his team wanted a more international name

[@dondothesupamida7397]

Sọp là caster việt đọc tiếng anh viết liền của Sofm, mà còn chẳng đúng

[@vnXun]

@@dondothesupamida7397 Sọp là Sof thiếu chữ M đó mà, nhưng mà đọc là Sọp Mờ hay Sọp Em thì hơi bị hài

[@dondothesupamida7397]

@@vnXun tốt nhất nên đọc là S o f m như caster nước ngoài họăc như thời Bá Nhật - Hoàng Luân còn cast, về sau thế hệ caster trẻ đọc là Sọp nhiều nên giờ ai cũng nghĩ sofm đọc là sọp

[@nicklewry3854]

I always find people who singlehandley shift the meta massively more impressive than people who master an established one

[@greensnake6943]

I've been watching all worlds games for 3 years now and I can say that Suning Gaming's run was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Bin's Fiora penta... Sofm's Rangar... Huanfeng's Jhin backdoor against JDG... Bin's gangplank deleting G2... They are all legendary moments of worlds history in my mind!

[@yudoball]

I totally agree! But where is swordart xD

[@tino258]

The Jihn play was not a backdoor. It was a base capture.

[@austinbaby8051]

10:20 he is not huanfeng

[@QuanNguyen-rn4rj]

Weiwei 🤣

[@sapk3532]

imagine him and Doinb in 1 team enemy needs like 20 bans or something

[@lynzeecf]

They played on the same team quite a lot actually.

[@trapsforlyfe3809]

@yhseht his world Champions win and innovative playstyle?

[@locpham7471]

I belive Doinb already played with him in a lot of games. And Rookie is basically in love with him (he didn't play with Sofm yet). I would love to see him in IG or FPX.

[@chriswho12345]

His main champion: knight’s vow

[@NethenoobVAL]

Best champion 2020

[@mynameskoj]

Not in preseason anymore as it brings less value to the owner after the item update

[@magician4280]

This guy is the embodiment of "you don't play games to win, you play it to piss off enemy player."

[@paradisedcanh8370]

shout out to everyone he is a Vietnamese .So proud of that god damn guy . Fact:no VNese jungler could dominate him when he competed in VN that was so crazy he just smurfing with ignite and smite in jungle back to 2014-15

[@skillex8376]

The fact that this vid is sponsored by geico gives me a weird vibe and I can't explain it

[@Lybrel]

15% off your vibes? 😂😂😂

[@poveh]

i never heard of a geico sponsorship

[@Oblivion9873]

@@poveh you mean you've never heard of TSM? lmao

[@jlyn7468]

Isn't TSM the team that doesn't like going out of the airport?

[@nebula_t2724]

last time i came this early she held me and said everything would be okay

[@HaHa-wk5xx]

He also invented olaf with redemption and so much more. Such a genius

[@lawrencellanita1808]

that quote from yamatocannon " i dont know why but its working" sums up this man's game

[@nguyenhuyhoang6975]

Yeah im vietnamese and i have followed him in a very long time ago, he is incredibly good in games and alway find a new way to play. He even play cs:go, dota 2 and get a very high rank. ( sry 4 my bad english )

[@MinhHoang-zu4us]

6k mmr :)))

[@JestiXertz]

that rengar pick is what made me respect him a lot. He made rengar look like a better support pick than the likes of sett or pyke.

[@Kaito-ir7ep]

He picked Rengar bcs it is a hardcounter to Evelynn Selfmade said it

[@mingyiliu352]

Yeah cuz blood rush reveals stealth

[@dan_chen]

The guy represents the play style of the whole Vietnamese region. In fact, pros coming from other servers to Vietnamese servers are often surprised at how Vietnamese LoL matches go. And we got all the rights to be proud of that

[@tuananhnguyen9742]

Ah yes, my favourite player Lê "Sofm" Quang Đuy

[@minhkhuele2266]

Sad for all the English speakers missing out on the joke.

[@kevinnikoparial2836]

5:17 did he just try to hook over a wall? 😂

[@smile6676]

5:14

[@casperpollet6812]

I think that nautilus wanted to flash over the wall and then q but he didn't realise that his flash was on cooldown so he just q the wall

[@sepehr7381]

came looking for this comment lol

[@mynameisgrand8937]

10:26 the dude on the very far right is throwing up a crip gang sign lmfao

[@Renahin]

Im really interested in seeing where this goes. Typically riot has been a fan of shutting down alternate play styles like his that become popular with their patches. Id love to see them encourage more players and orgs to find clever ways to play, instead of it just being a game of clicking faster.

[@t4hN_YT]

I'm a simple Vietnamese. I see the flags, i click

[@prontoxd]

first true 100% Vietnamese player show up on theScore esports, I feel proud about my boy

[@hanmoamo]

I swear during the finals I played bimgo with my friends and SOFM made us complete an entire column alone, between Shen and Rengar picks and other great performances

[@Extremus-PrDX]

After watching this video, there was a rengar player in every game

[@gorillaz9694]

"*The Meta-Breaking Bad Boy Who Came Out of Nowhere and Nearly Conquered the World*" Topson : I let my play do the talking

[@AsianCole]

holy... you know youve made it when you get sponsored by geico. Congratulations The Score Esports team

[@germa4249]

is that ProZD in the thumbnail

[@sekkachi3175]

Idk if u r joking or not but thats SofM in the thumbnail.

[@nazir7614]

I love sunning rn. Bin, Huanfeng & SofM

[@pirs]

I don't even play league but I love people succeeding with off-meta stuff

[@Viper_Mk.1]

A legend of a jungler in old time on old Vietnamese server Now a legend on the worlds stage

[@lukestyer5400]

Can we just talk about how he spent half a game playing as a ward vs TES as J4

[@trapsforlyfe3809]

his engages and being a general nuisance was good tho

[@trollnoobs178]

14:14 LOL paper

[@ankit5817]

0:32 *goosebumps* UwU

[@PhamHue-u4v]

Sofm is the proud of Vietnamese players, he did so many unbelievable highlights

[@turtlesploodgegaming3123]

Ah yes......tank Rengar.

[@battleriteroyalevietnam8447]

who say he dont sacrified his identity? he was one aggresive carry player, but for the championship he step down from that role and be a glue to connect team fight. recently he usually play as a teamfight controller or a wingman.

[@randominternetperson5978]

Nearly is never enough

[@textmachine09]

He is Vietnamese after all. Ingenious, master of the jungle, unpredictable.

[@henrybauck7924]

7:25 it would be really cool if I could actually read the article instead of having it tilted fucking weird

[@GNUX66]

Super cool sh**ting on League at the end. Always nice to hear a game I like made fun of. Keep up the great work!

[@Zer-mz4rw]

SoFM doesnt main champs. He mains Knights Vow.

[@grandmaashley]

grandma approved

[@lleger]

sofm is the most refreshing and entretaining player by far

[@lleger]

little sad you just focused on his rengar pick and not his lee sindrome and j4

[@buianh1257]

He is a true genius.🥰🥰 why the money he made in LPL, I'm I glad for him. He will live like a king when he came home.

[@Klipik12]

My introduction to SofM was him playing Kaisa jungle in the funnel meta.

[@IfonlyIwassmaller]

3:34 RIP Robin Williams. ❤️

[@ReclusiveEagle]

theScore: "Now advancing to the world finals and surprising everyone is not easy.. But do you know what is?!" Me: "Skipping forward 20 sec because I don't want to hear about your sponsor on top of already having 4 ads in the video"

[@NoryLevi]

Duy cầu Giấy EZ Clap

[@locpham7471]

NA Jungler: woo, free redbuff! Random bush: what i up mai broada.

[@nguyenaidung-kwancon4125]

So proud of "Cầu giấy" boy :))

[@MinhHoang-zu4us]

For those who are not familiar, this is VCS

[@Ifarmplasma]

*I have never seen a channel sponsored by Geico before lol*

[@lordtraxroy]

League of Legends is so toxic that you cant be creative because if someone figured out something new it will easily be patched out instead to let it stay there for Example StarCraft has so many strats or cheese strats that dont need to patched

[@creed782]

And fun fact: Sofm even didn't know that he played in regional qualified in 2016 with a BO10 until he was told by someone in LNG when his time with LNG was almost out and the reason for that was because his translor didn't know lot about the game and the tournament and it's been comfirmed by Sofm's old teamate Kryst4l

[@tinnitusthenight5545]

As an eve main I can attest that tank Rengar is not a fun thing to play against

[@tiensinhnguyen8592]

Easily thing, It's Style of Him

[@scipio764]

To add to how crazy he was, on a regional final in 2013, he build Manamune on a top-lane Khazix, when that shit blade was still doing AP damage

[@hoaang9455]

Con rengar đi top huyền thoại :)) hs lớp 8 đó nha

[@re_i_gn]

He looks like ProZD's son

[@NachoBearYeah]

I saw him play Kindred in the beginning there so I can instantly say I like the guy.

[@fellowperson6406]

Daaang! A big boy Sponsor like Geico?! Y'all are moving up, and I like it!

[@creed782]

His first game was in 2012 when he was in grade 8 tho lol

[@leafwing_3263]

Miss SofM❤❤

[@minhquan309]

Actually, Sofm played top lane before.

[@sonicthehedgehog6883]

Damn is this a story about Alexander the Great goddamn

[@dedomax07]

So that's why there's so many aggressive vietnamese in Wild Rift. Dang be proud.

[@aaryankhanna8419]

Having Geico insurance sponsor this is so ironic considering SofM goes balls to the wall every time, damn the consequences. He doesn't care about insurance XD

[@SquirtleSquady]

I’m waiting for the documentary on Falcomaster3000

[@mcthepro123]

I dont know if you guys did a video for the greatest esports commentator duo artosis and tasteless or tastosis. They are the ones that set the seeds to esports to world they committed alot for the esports community as a whole

[@DefensePlayer]

Finally, Sofm Video

[@XiamJoy]

Yup, that is Duy "Cau Giay"

[@wai4171]

cảm ơn rất nhiều, video của anh làm rất tuyệt! mỗi lần xem video về Sofm, đặc biệt là những video được đầu tư như thế này tôi thật sự rất xúc động!

[@NathanGudBoii]

Yep Pinnacle of Vietnam gameplay Go mid, if mid is picked, play Adc, and if adc is picked too, go Jungle We never main 1 role

[@SVPD-LR-114]

Was that seriously a geico commercial

[@F_L_U_X]

15:49 AMEN!

[@gt_pham]

Nice video , tk u ❤🎉

[@buiquanghuy7589]

1:47 seriously i still don’t know why JDG lost this fight

[@mingyiliu352]

Graves managed to get both parts of his Q to go through and did extreme damage in combination with his ult

[@olex8554]

i laugh so hard in 4am cause you said "Duy" more like "Đuy" on my country lol

[@tftpengu]

The Smite King SofM!

[@teddanville6996]

It good that no LPL fan attacks Sunning for not being world champions, cuz clearly the team that suppose to win is Top Esport and they choke hard, almost losing to Fnatic and everyone from Knight to 369 choked hard against Sunning.

[@travissu1040]

Im surprised they didn't talk about redemption olaf 😂

[@luong-um3rb]

Also levi nocturne 5 minutes level 6

[@nyeakz]

I watched the video because he looks like the person that creates mtg/random videos like "when you accidentally help the heroes"

[@ntc9293]

NGL he look exactly like ProZD

[@genericdataflow1680]

Then in s11 you get Sofm on Moonstone Lilia

[@demometalico8074]

Our region is pretty underestimated ngl

[@SyKeusX]

WHAT A LEGENED

[@benazriel01]

he is like aura fire indonesia jungler at mobile legends profesional leauge season 8.

[@bantxc5616]

For a sec I thought the geico skit was troll but ig not

[@dante.2639]

*looks at thumbnail* oh look its ProZD

[@adriano97758]

Finally a video not for simps